Not long ago, a couple I know—both serious swimmers—asked me if I could help them come up with a girl’s name that related to water. They didn’t want any site-specific water names —no actual names of oceans or rivers or seas, no Hudsons or Niles for them– but something with the feel or sense or literal meaning of water.

I put together a relatively short list for them of water-related words and names whose meanings reference water. Here’s a considerably expanded version of those water names, with some, of course, more usable than others. (By the way, my friends chose to name their daughter Tallulah, in large part because they loved its meaning—“leaping water”)

So if you’re a swimmer, a surfer, a snorkeler, a fisherperson, or just someone who likes to walk in the rain, here are some possible approaches.